Human Similarities.

Today's Tids Issue 4,337

Just like always:

I have been watching the results of statewide high school basketball and hockey playoffs, and have seen the same student enthusiasm or anguish for triumphant wins or sad losses as we experienced, we the nostalgic souls of yesteryear, in our days of glory. Kids may appear different today because of technology, and mass communication, but they are still rejoicing over innocent competition and intelligently thinking their way through the same old adolescent challenges, and some new ones. From time to time the Tids will bring you “Teen Views.” The first one is down below.

“Human behavior flows from three main sources: Desire, Emotion, Knowledge.” –Plato.

When you find yourself itching to solve math problems, use scratch paper.

The Question:

Everybody knows the 13 original colonies that became our first 13 states. See how many of the next 13 states you can name. Bonus: Who is Luca Pacioli?

The Headlines:

--Stocks Teetering – But down In Late Morn, But Could Move Higher, Or Not; Target’s Digital Sales Growth Produces Superior Q4 Results.

--90% National Association Of Manufacturers Say Their Outlook For Business in 2019 is Positive; Fears of Potential Recession Subside; Primary Concerns: Infrastructure (77%); Finding, Retainage Talented Work Force (72%); Health Care Costs (57%); Tarde Tensions (53%).

--China Warms Of Struggle Ahead; Cuts Taxes.

-- South Carolina Single Winner Of $1.5 Mega Millions Finally Comes Forward To Claim Wealth.

--Senate Set To Pass House Resolution Blocking Trump Declaration.

--AOC Billionaire Chief of Staff Alleged To Have Illegally Moved $885K In Donations Off The Books.

--Many Never Forget Clinton Staffers Vow To Get Bernie.

Hitting a baseball may be the hardest thing to do in sports. Consider this: When a baseball is within 5.5 feet of Homeplate, it is moving faster than a person can move their eyes. On other words, even the best of batters can’t see what they are swinging at. Popular Mechanics reports that a 90 mph fastball reaches Home plate in about four tenths of a second, giving the batter 100 milliseconds to see the ball, 75 milliseconds to hone in on its spin, speed and location and just 50 milliseconds to decide whether to swing. The swing takes 150 milliseconds. Yogi Berra said it’s better that batters don’t think. But, a study from the journal, Frontiers in Neuroscience found that people’s brains can make split second decisions between trajectories of fastballs, curves and sliders. It was said that Ted Williams could count the stitches on a baseball. Now that’s lore. But he could hit. So, maybe…

If you find Tids missing from time to time, it’s always good to check “Spam”.  Or, always go to worldviewetc.blogspot.com each morning (Well, maybe closer to noon.)

Teen View of World View, Department:

“Sunsets or Sunrises? A fun game for people to pass the time or gain playful knowledge of one another, is “This or That?” -- “Coke or Pepsi?”, “Dogs or Cats?” I have another, “Sunsets or Sunrises?” For me, this question might be the trickiest to answer of them all. Each morning as I ride to school, I anticipate seeing the sunrise. It makes the ride a little less miserable. It creates beauty in our cold, tired mornings, a reminder of the bright day ahead. As I pass by, I observe the stunning colors from all different angles, the tints of pink and orange all melting together, creating a mesmerizing palette, convincing me that my answer to the question, sunset or sunrise, would most definitely be sunrise. Yet, the evening comes and I look out my bedroom window to a beautiful gathering of deep purples and reds and oranges, captivating my eyes.  I now realize while the sunrise makes my mornings more cheerful, hopeful, sunsets turn me to love of the world and its ability to be so enchanting. I realize that you can’t compare the two, as they are entirely different yet equally meaningful. Sunrises are delicate and feminine and light, while sunsets are demanding and demonstrate a bold array of warm colors. If sunrises predict a shiny new day, sunsets act as the crescendo, like the last powerful song of a concert. And then I remember that sunrises can grab me like showstoppers and sunsets can be the delicate ones; the beautiful, calming end to a day. So, I find I love that they never stay the same, never the same to me or to each other. And, yet that they are alike in the way spread so much beauty and warmth and love and happiness. So, of course I can’t say whether I enjoy sunsets or sunrises better -- if so, I’d be comparing two different things that can be entirely alike.”

“Scratch paper”? -- what is scratch paper asks today’s young students.

The powers that be in women’s organizations probably won’t like yesterday’s news that Google is readjusting its pay scales for fairness. It appears that the salaries fro female software engineers were higher than the male counterparts. That’s probably the result of the diversity race, where finding a female software engenders was rare, and like black pearls, they demanded more money from those aggressive competitors for their services, and got it. The old supply and demand at work. Thank God for capitalism, right AOC.

By taking the lump sum, the SC Mega Millions $1.5 Billion winner started with $878 Million before taxes. After taxes he or she would get $490, 600,000. By remaining entirely anonymous, the winner saves a lot of money from bogus law suits that always arise and even more grief from the envious.

Whoever thought that doorbells would become so important?

There’s no truth to the rumor that AOC said, “I hope I never have twins. I can’t afford to be pregnant for 18 months.” Or, “If money doesn’t grow on trees, why do banks have branches.” Or, is there?

Money Talks, Department:

Remember how the media and Hollywood elite and assorted music industry Bigs bent over backwards to minimize the Michael Jackson association with 13 year old boys. From what I have heard, the new HBO “Leaving Neverland” documentary blows the the coverup of the big moneymaker’s exploits out of the water, and focuses on sorting out what was really happening in the stars bedroom, Child Abuse. It sounds like a killer of a documentary. BTW, the parents of one of the abused contributed to the continued abuse as one of the kids was given $20 Million by the moonwalker to stay silent. The Jackson family is suing. Duh.

The first NHL player that I as a youth loved was Ted Lindsey. I can’t tell you why. But I read about him and never forgot. That was before I liked Milt Schmidt. Who knows what goes on in a kids mind, but for hockey Ted was it, for sure, and I remember likening his incredible Detroit Red Wings line – surely one of the greatest of all time –– Ted, Sid Able, and the incomparable Gordie Howe. But it was “terrible” Ted who I gravitated to. He died yesterday and he was quite the guy as a player, Prez of Players Association and a person. Hs foundation still raises money to contribute to research on Autism. He was 95. He was my man.

“Honey, I’m on my way home from work, Print me a steak.” Say what? Yes, even as all of the food delivery systems gear up to instant take home meals, 3D printer suppliers have found a method to create a faster instant. They use Cad/Cam to design a desired steak shape and size, and the 3D printer to turn veggie mush into something that appears to look like a juicy delicacy. Now, I guarantee, I will never eat one. I can also assure you that people the meat biz will fight like hell to ban the descriptive word “Steak” as a name for a veggie-based facsimile. Things they are achangin’.

You don’t win a trade war. You just take the tension out of global obstinance.

The Answer:

Ok, Vermont was number 14 followed by Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine (!), Missouri, Arkansas and Michigan. Florida, Texas, Iowa and Wisconsin rounded out the first 30. Bonus: Luca Pacioli was an Italian mathematician, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, Franciscan Friar who is known as The Father of Accounting. His 1494 book was the first book that described a system of double entry book-keeping. Among other things, he said that no accountant should end the day before balancing debits and credits. In his book he also described the ethics of accounting and Rule of 72, a method of determining economic returns.